newlife15 Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Hi everyone, I own and Epi Sheri and the Epi DOT. i was reading somewhere that changing the stop tailpices on the guitars from the stock to aftermarkets like Gotoh would lighten the guitars and give it nicer tone. Is this true? I know I will get the right answer here......... also, when i called Stewmac they informed me i need to measure the holes and then compare them to what they have in stock. is there an exact measumement i could use for my guitars? have a great day fellas....... :- :- :- :-
Ron G Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 A new tailpiece will not make your guitar sound better. A waste of money. Beware of all the BS being touted by aftermarket sellers. If it wasn't for ads from aftermarket sellers or pseudo-ads masquerading as reviews, Premier Guitar magazine would be 4 pages long. Most of the stuff being pushed is the guitar equivalent of:
Thermionik Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Changing ANYTHING will change the feel and sound of a guitar. Maybe not noticeably, then again, maybe one heck of a lot. Whether the change is for the better or worse..... .....only you can decide. One man's brighter is another man's thinner. One man's mellower is another man's muddier.
TWANG Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 I beleive you can get a tonal change from going to aluminum. I don't have any idea if that would be right for you or your guitar. The difference in the weight is neglible. You can feel it in your hands.. comparing one to the other, but on a guitar like a dot or sheri, mounted, you'd never know it. The differences are incremental. I doubt you'd hear much difference unless you went with a massive bigger bridge and a change to something else in the tail. But, there are those who exclaim the difference is or at least can be quite a bit. I wouldn't argue with anyone about it. I know that I've heard a difference, though not terribly dramatic, when I've gotten rid of porous cheap metal and replaced it with denser higher quality metal. I'm disappointed to learn exteze doesn't work. I'd hoped for a carreer in porn. Another set back! Any metric bridge or tail will fit your dot. Your sheraton may be a korean model which has an odd bridge size and is harder to fit, but the tail is replaceable with metric and tone pros as well as others have them. You can upgrade your existing tail by drilling holes in it..tapping them.. inserting a screw.. so it turns into a locking tail. More solid and less hassle when changing strings all at once. probably a little more tone and sustain, too. TWANG
Guest icantbuyafender Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 I beleive you can get a tonal change from going to aluminum.I don't have any idea if that would be right for you or your guitar. The difference in the weight is neglible. You can feel it in your hands.. comparing one to the other' date=' but on a guitar like a dot or sheri, mounted, you'd never know it. The differences are incremental. I doubt you'd hear much difference unless you went with a massive bigger bridge and a change to something else in the tail. But, there are those who exclaim the difference is or at least can be quite a bit. I wouldn't argue with anyone about it. I know that I've heard a difference, though not terribly dramatic, when I've gotten rid of porous cheap metal and replaced it with denser higher quality metal. I'm disappointed to learn exteze doesn't work. I'd hoped for a carreer in porn. Another set back! Any metric bridge or tail will fit your dot. Your sheraton may be a korean model which has an odd bridge size and is harder to fit, but the tail is replaceable with metric and tone pros as well as others have them. You can upgrade your existing tail by drilling holes in it..tapping them.. inserting a screw.. so it turns into a locking tail. More solid and less hassle when changing strings all at once. probably a little more tone and sustain, too. TWANG[/quote'] +1 throw a wrap around badass style bridge or a wilkinson wrap around. more string contact = more transfer of vibration = happier ears, sir. I wouldn't change out only the tailpiece, but replace them with just one unit cause really changin JUST the stop tailpiece is IMHO purely aesthetic (like putting a trapeze style on a dot ). that's my 2¢
John Beef Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 I changed the stock tailpiece on my sheraton to a Gotoh Aluminum one. There was massive improvement in tone!* * I also changed the bridge and studs to Gotoh, the pickups to Fralins, and the electronics to Acme/CTS at the same time. Sounds amazing!
newlife15 Posted March 18, 2009 Author Posted March 18, 2009 was there major work to do on the tailpiece? or did the Gotoh fit right in?
John Beef Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Well, like I said, I did the studs as well as the tail piece and bridge. The new studs were just a touch smaller than the factory ones and I had to shim the holes with super thin strips of wood to give the new studs something to bite into. But the spacing was exactly the same. Also, mine is an Unsung-made Korean one. Can't speak for anything else.
John Beef Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 I'm sorry, I said the studs were smaller, what I meant was the bushings. The pieces anchored in the guitar were smaller. I didn't try the Gotoh studs in the Epi bushings, but they may have fit. Since the Epi bushings were gold and I was converting mine to nickel, I wanted to use the new bushings.
TWANG Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 I'm not gonna argue.. but look at what's being said here. he used smaller bushings, and shimmed them.. at the point where he's placing the new part.. to improve the tone.. he did little to keep things very tight so the solidity would contribute to that tone.. yet he was very happy with the results. And that's the thing... for all this talk of what part will do what.. it still depends on who's guitar and which guitar as much as anything. Nobody who installs a tail will fail to say that the bushings fitting tightly is important for the maximum effect. I believe John.. I beleive he got a better sound out of his new bridge.. But I'm saying, maybe maybe not when it comes to anyone else, too. I would never expect dramatic change from a tailpiece swap as a guarantee. That said.. aluminum user swear by them! But boy.. I'd try to fit those bushing correctly.. TWANG ps. by the way hypocrit here.. *S* I did my epi lp bushings a bit sloppy.. but I was just seeing what would work at the time. currently redoing the whole guitar.
newlife15 Posted March 19, 2009 Author Posted March 19, 2009 Guys what about weight? I play in Church on sundays and stand up for an hour or so. in the morning service and the evening service. is there any NOTICABLE difference in weight? By the way, what does an Epi Sheri weigh?
DJB08 Posted March 19, 2009 Posted March 19, 2009 I can't imgaine that changing that part on your guitar is going to take the pain out of your back. Just play that P&W sitting down. I don't think the Lord would mind.
John Beef Posted March 20, 2009 Posted March 20, 2009 Yeah, my original post was somewhat sarcastic... I was joking that my guitar sounded great with the new bridge, when in fact I had also changed out the pickups and electronics for some high quality stuff. Those things obviously have quite a bit more bearing over the tone than a tailpiece. It's easy to forget, in this Internet medium, sarcasm doesn't always come through properly. I wish I hadn't needed to shim, but I did in order to facilitate getting the guitar together in a timely manner. Also, I didn't have any idea whether it was going be any good, tonally. I've done quite a few partscasters, and some have been amazing, some have been absolutely terrible. You never know until it's all together. However, now that I know how great this guitar sounds, I may take it to a pro to get the original holes plugged and redrilled so the studs will fit in there properly.
jo.schumi Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 nice to follow the discussion here. some weeks ago a got a dot at ebay. the broken neck was repaired... tight but not really beautifully made. i got it for relatively few money... a nice dot project. when i first played it unamplified i could hear the potential of the guitar which was great but plugged it just was more or less ok. in the meantime i have replaced the stop tail - with an aluminium one, replaced the bridge with a roller bridge and got a bone nut that i have installed by myself (it was my first one!!!). AND NOW guys - it is rellay amazing after a little set up of the neck this guitar really starts singing. i don't know how to explain but changing theses elements added some very fine thin aspects of the tone. especially when i replaced the tusq nut that i had installed 2 weeks ago with the bone nut... the dot now started to lisp and to smack a bit .... there was a gain in transparency of the tone. and all this with the epi humbuckers installed. in the next two weeks i will go for new ones and then tell you happened.
newlife15 Posted March 23, 2009 Author Posted March 23, 2009 i agree with you on the nut issue. i have a sheri in which i replaced the stock nut with bone and the difference was noticable especially on open chords. not to get off the subject but i just had someone swap out the stock pickups for stewmac golden age humbuckers. i am happy with them but i am getting humming from the amp as if thay are fender single coils. is it possible that my neck pickup is too low? the amp is fine. THANKS
Ron G Posted March 23, 2009 Posted March 23, 2009 I saved a lot of money on aftermarket parts by simply sprinkling pixie dust on my guitars. NOW we're talking tone!
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